Transcript The Civil War 1860-1861: The Cause

The American Civil War
Lifelong Learning Academy
Daniel Stephens
Topics
 The State of the Union 1860
 The Mexican War
 The Institution of Slavery
 The Industrial Revolution
 Nat Turner Rebellion
 The Missouri Compromise
 Kansas-Nebraska Act (Popular
Sovereignty)
 Bleeding Kansas
 The Creation of the Republican Party
 The Rail Splitter
 James Buchanan
 Lincoln/ Douglas Debates
 The Dred Scott Decision
 The Fugitive Slave Law
 Uncle Toms Cabin
 John Browns Raid
 The Election of 1860
 Secession
 1861: The Edge of the Razor
The State of the Union
 The American Revolution is becoming a
distant memory.
 America has expelled all foreign
 European Immigrants begin pouring in.
 The Frontier is expanding.
 Indian’s have been forcibly removed from
the Southeast.
 Manifest Destiny takes hold of the
American psyche
The War for Texas
 Mexican expands under Santa Anna
in the 1830’s.
 Texas free soilers and the Texas
revolution
 Remember the Alamo!
 Santa Anna’s army would be
defeated at the battle of San Jacinto
on April 21st 1836
The Mexican War
Manifest Destiny President Polk
used Mexican aggression to
annex Texas and California.
Santa Anna promised to defend
Mexico from foreign invaders.
The war was extremely
unpopular.
There was many desertions
among the ranks of the American
army.
The Mexican War
 The American Army landed troops in Vera Cruz
and was able to march onto Mexico City
 Through the end of hostiles with Mexico the U.S.
acquired California, Texas, New Mexico, and
Utah.
 The war was seen by its participants and the
American public as a sham.
 Many future commanders of the Civil War like
Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant, James Longstreet,
Jefferson Davis, and William T. Sherman serve
with distinction in the Mexican War.
White Man’s Burden
 The institution of Slavery dates back in the
United States to its fundamental roots.
 Native American tribal societies would take
slaves as spoils of war and freely trade people
between tribes.
 Spain, England, and France would bring
Africans into North America as part of their
expanding colonial empires.
 By 1776, Slaves were being sold and kept in all
of the American colonies.
 By 1800, slavery had become unprofitable and
was on the verge of dying out in the U.S.
The Industrial Revolution American Style
 In the early 1800’s a wellspring of industrial
invention and ingenuity stretches across both
sides of the Atlantic.
 With the use of steam power and machinery
the conversion of raw material into textiles
becomes a thriving industry in America.
 The Cotton Gin makes the harvesting of cotton
easier and extremely profitable.
 The demand of manpower for work in the
textile mills of the North is fed by a dramatic
increase in immigrant populations coming from
Europe.
Missouri Compromise
 In 1820 there would be a fight within the U.S.
government on whether slavery would be
permitted into the territories.
 The House of Representatives pushed to
disallow any slavery into the new territories,
while the Southern controlled Senate vetoed
any such act.
 A compromise would be reached that any slave
state brought into the United States would also
have a free counterpart brought in as well.
 In 1820 Maine (free) and 1821 Missouri (slave)
would become States.
 Before the bill was ratified an amendment was
passed that no new territories above 36˚30’
would be slave.
The Nat Turner Rebellion
 Born in 1800, Nat Turner was raised on tobacco
farms throughout Virginia.
 In his twenties Nat Turner began receiving
visions from God.
 Many would begin to refer to him as Prophet.
 In 1831, using natural occurrences as divine
recognition, Nat and his trusted associates led a
bloody insurrection through Virginia.
 The rebellion gathered over 70 slave and free
blacks and killed over 60 whites and burned
several homes and Plantations.
 Nat Turner was captured and executed ending
the rebellion.
Slavery The Institution
 By the 1850’s most of the northern states have
either abolished slavery.
 The South with its agrarian based economy
heavily relied on slavery for manpower in
harvesting cotton.
 Out of 5.5 million people living in the South only
46,000 owned slaves, only 3,000 owned more
than 100 slaves and only 12 owned more than
500.
 Protected by the Constitution, slavery
guaranteed that the South would maintain a
political presence in the Senate.
The Political Landscape 1850
 By 1850, Washington politics was a
battleground of heated arguments and
personal attacks.
 Any bill that passed the house that stood out
as anti-slave would be immediately vetoed in
the Senate.
 Debates on the floor of both houses could turn
violent with members of either party possibly
pulling knives, guns, or beating each other
with canes.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Territories acquired in the war with Mexico would be
deemed unsuitable for farming.
 Fertile territories above 36˚30’ were off limits to
slave holding.
 This would make it possible for southern Democrats
and pro-slave factions to lose their controlling
interests in the Senate.
 Kansas-Nebraska act would repeal the Missouri
Compromise, declaring any such acts that limit the
spread of slavery unconstitutional.
Popular Sovereignty
 What Kansas-Nebraska did was institute the
right of popular sovereignty.
 This gave the power of decision of free or slave
to a voting majority within the new state.
 Douglas and his constituents believed they had
found a way to quiet the pro-slave faction within
the Democratic party.
 They also believed that slavery would never
spread into the new territories.
Bleeding Kansas
 Pro-slave Para-military factions quickly moved
into Kansas to sway the vote to slave.
 Civilian insurrections flair up as pro-slave & antislave factions begin to fight each other for
majority.
 Missouri raiders cross the border and burn the
town of Lawrence Kansas.
 Two territorial governments form and fighting
drags on for four years.
 200 die in the violence carried out over the fate
of Kansas.
John Brown
 Born 1800, John Brown grew up in
Massachusetts and Ohio.
 He becomes a member of the staunch
Abolitionist group the Gileadites.
 In 1850 he moves out to the territories and
fights for abolition.
 Brown surrounds himself with 29 men and
begins violent attacks against pro-slave militia
units.
 Brown massacres any pro-slave men he
happens upon (massacre at Pottawatomie
Creek).
 Fearing capture and prosecution John Brown
leaves Kansas in 1858 for Canada.
President Buchanan
 James Buchanan, a Democrat was serving as
an ambassador to England.
 Buchanan was considered electable due to his
lack of involvement with Kansas.
 Members of the other parties would charge him
with being sympathetic to pro-slave factions in
the South.
 Buchanan’s presidency would be characterized
by his lack of involvement.
The Formation of the Republican Party
 During the 1857 election a new political
party would be given birth.
 Coming out of the Whig, Free Soil, and
Know Nothing parties the new Republican
party would arise.
 The Republican parties platform was
centralized government, modernization,
and strengthening a central U.S. economy.
 In opposition is the Democratic party who
stood for de-centralized government, more
power to the states, and traditionalism.
 The first Republican candidate for
President would be John C. Freemont,
who would be defeated by James
Buchanan in the 1857 election.
The Rail Splitter
 Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky,
February 12, 1809.
 Lincolns Father Thomas enjoyed success in
Kentucky.
 Lincoln’s mother Nancy died of milk sickness
when Lincoln was nine.
 Thomas would marry Sarah Johnson, who took
it upon herself to educate Abe.
 At 22 Lincoln would leave home and seek his
fortunes.
 He would take on a variety of jobs like flatboat
sailor, general store owner and Captain in
Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk Rebellion.
 In 1832 he would begin campaigning for a
career in politics.
Honest Abe
 1834 Lincoln began teaching himself law.
 Of the same year, Lincoln won his first political
appointment, a seat in the Illinois state
legislature.
 In 1836 Lincoln would pass the Illinois bar and
begin practicing law in Springfield.
 In 1846, Lincoln served in the U.S. House of
Representatives as a Whig.
 Lincoln returned to Illinois and took up being a
trial lawyer.
 He would not enter politics again until 1854.
The Lincoln Douglas Debates
 From 1854 to 1857 Lincoln would try several
times to run for Senate.
 In 1857, Lincoln will oppose Stephen Douglas
for his seat in the U.S. Senate.
 Lincoln who opposed Douglas's views on
Popular Sovereignty and slavery argued that
Douglas did not uphold the values of the
founding fathers ( House Divided).
 Lincoln would lose to Douglas, but these
debates would elevate Lincoln into the political
spotlight, and lead to the Republican nomination
fro President.
The Dread Scott Decision
 March, 1857 The U.S. Supreme Court headed
by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that
Dread Scott, a Slave be returned into bondage.
 Twenty years before Scott, as a slave, moved
from Missouri to Wisconsin with his master.
 While in Wisconsin his master died, and Scott
started living as a freed man since Wisconsin
was a free state.
 When faced with a return to bondage, Scott and
his lawyers argued that he had a right to be free.
 The lower courts decided that Scott had no
rights because he was property, which is
protected by the Constitution.
 The Supreme Court would uphold the ruling,
and that Congress and territorial legislature had
no right to restrict slavery anywhere.
The Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act
 In 1850 as part of the Compromise, it was
made legal for Federal agents to pursue
escaped or runaway slaves into free territories
and states.
 With tensions mounting in the North over
Kansas, Dread Scott, and the rise of moral
abolition Federal marshals began facing angry
mobs in opposition to their practice.
 Further opposition came when State courts
and legislatures began passing personal
freedom laws protecting fugitive slaves by
declaring them free if found in residence in a
non-slave state.
 During this time the Underground railroad
would become into prominence.
The Underground Railroad
 The Underground Railroad was a
unconnected system of waypoints and safe
houses were fugitive slaves could hide from
slave hunters as they moved north into
Canada.
 Figures like Harriet Tubman would risk their
lives moving runaways across the Mason
Dixon line into the North.
 From there, fugitives would move into
crawlspaces, secret rooms, and basements.
 In the South several groups would appear to
help escaped slaves to only return them for
the reward.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
 In 1852 in reaction to the Fugitive Slave Law,
Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote a book about the
horrors of southern slavery.
 Stowe, who had never visited the South or a
Plantation painted a picture of brutality,
murder, and degradation.
 The book became an instant bestseller in the
North selling 300,000 copies in one year.
 The book was so popular that in 1862 Lincoln
said to Mrs. Stowe “So you are the little
woman who wrote the book that made this
great war.”
John Browns Raid
 After killing pro-slavers in Kansas, Brown
and his followers fled to Canada.
 1859, Brown has a plan to move across
the South in a bloody insurrection.
 He targets the Federal arsenal at Harpers
Ferry Va. To start this rebellion.
 On October 16th, Brown and his followers
snuck into Harpers Ferry killing a freed
black rail man and took the arsenal
building.
John Brown’s Raid
 There was a running gun battle as Brown and
his followers hold up in an engine house and
took hostages.
 Washington dispatches a detachment of
Marines led by an Army Colonel home on leave
and an Cavalry Lt. who was visiting him.
 Robert E. Lee & JEB Stuart lead the Marines in
and quickly take the engine house, killing
several of Brown’s followers including his Sons,
and taking Brown captive.
John Browns Body
 John Brown was tried for treason with the
purpose of inciting rebellion by the state of
Virginia.
 Brown is sentenced to death by hanging.
 The Governor dispatches a unit of cadets
from VMI led by their instructor Thomas J.
Jackson.
 Brown, it was said, calmly walked to the
gallows and met his death only stopping to
hand a note to his guard.
 In attendance would be Walt Whitman as a
journalist, and John Wilkes Booth, disguised
as a militia soldier.
The Election of 1860
 The election of 1860 had four Candidates. The
Republican Party ran Lincoln, The northern
Democrats ran Stephen Douglas, The
Constitutional Union Party (Know Nothings)
nominated John Bell, and John Breckenridge,
the former V.P. ran as the southern Democrats
choice.
 Lincoln would win every northern state except
New Jersey. He did not appear on ballets in
most of the Southern States.
 Lincoln would take the electoral vote by 59%
and gain 40% of the popular vote.
Secession: For Whom The Bells Toll
 December 1860, South Carolina delegation
would vote to sever its ties with the federal
government,
 The question comes up what is there to do
about Fort Sumter.
 Buchanan moves to re-supply the Federal Fort
 Charleston’s batteries open up on the ship
deterring its re-supply.
 Two days later Mississippi, Florida, and
Alabama secede.
 By February 1, 1861 Georgia Louisiana, and
Texas leave the Union.
 President Buchanan fails to take action,
preferring to leave the whole mess to Lincoln.
Lincoln’s Inaugural Address
 Lincoln comes into office March 4th 1861.
 In his inaugural address, Lincoln makes his
message clear to the seceded states.
1. Secession is illegal and unjustified.
2. All States in open rebellion were in fact still
part of the Union.
3. He would not send Federal troops into these
rebellious states, unless provoked by hostile
action.
4. The Federal instillations would remain in U.S.
possession this includes Fort Sumter and Fort
Pickens.
5. He will uphold the rights guaranteed by the
Constitution. This includes the right of slavery
were it existed.
The Confederacy and Mr. Davis
 Meanwhile in Montgomery, Alabama the
newly formed Confederate States was quickly
trying to form a government.
 For their President they select a Senator from
Mississippi and one time Secretary of War,
Jefferson Davis.
 Davis’s first act as President is to call up
100,000 volunteers to serve a period of twelve
months.
 The Confederate Congress authorizes the use
of force to take possession of Federal
instillations which included Fort Sumter and
Fort Pickens.
 The Confederate Constitution is drafted giving
the Central government control over troop
movement and regulated powers.
Jefferson Davis
 Born in 1808 in Kentucky, Davis and Lincoln would only be separated
by less than 100 miles.
 He would serve under Zachary Taylor in Wisconsin and during the
Blackhawk wars.
 He would leave the army and marry Taylor’s daughter Sarah, but she
would die in of malaria after three months.
 Davis would recover and move to Mississippi and meet and fall in love
with Varina Howell. They would marry in 1845
 He would serve as a Colonel under Taylor in the Mexican war.
 He would distinguish himself at the battle of Buena Vista.
 He would serve in the Senate as a representative of Mississippi.
 Under Franklyn Pierce, Davis would serve as Secretary of War.
 He would return to the Senate and speak out against secession.
 He would resign from the Senate in 1860 after Mississippi seceded
from the Union.
1861: The Razors Edge
 As supplies are running out for the garrison
of Fort Sumter, things begin to become
desperate.
 Lincoln not wishing to be seen as an
aggressor, does not want to send warships
to re-supply Sumter, but must send
something to feed the men garrisoned there.
 Jefferson Davis not wishing to be seen as
the aggressor bulks up the batteries of
Charleston and waits for Lincoln to make the
first move.
 Neither side wants to start a Civil War, but
neither side can back down.